A TOTAL OF 19,673 vehicles were seized for driving without insurance last year, according to figures released to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).

The figures for last year continue a trend of increased seizures since a new motor insurance database was introduced, allowing gardaí to check the insurance status of a vehicle in seconds.

A total of 18,676 vehicles were seized by gardaí for the offence in 2024, compared to 11,201 vehicles in 2023 before the database seeing use.

The new data contained in the Irish Motor Insurance Database (IMID) annual report.

Every day, gardaí receive an update from the database containing information on individual insurance policyholders, driver numbers and the named drivers on these specific policies.

They are then able to use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology or their mobile device to check vehicles at checkpoints or in other scenarios.

The database – which started being used two years ago – shows that gardaí have now detained a total of 38,546 vehicles for breaking the law by driving without insurance since it first came into effect.

A further 51,024 charges and summons have been issued to those who were apprehended for driving without insurance in that period, with 25,009 of those charges and summons occurring in 2025.

The IMID Annual Report 2025 also shows that by the end of the year a total of 4.5 million valid driver numbers had been added to the database, with more numbers to be added over the coming months as additional policy renewals occur.

By the end of last year, details for approximately 3.6 million vehicles were included on the motor insurance database.

“We are very pleased to see the contribution and impact that IMID is making towards law enforcement,” said

Chief executive officer of the MIBI David Fitzgerald said that the database was set up to make it easier for An Garda Síochána to identify those who are breaking the law, and that in this regard it has “changed the whole uninsured policing picture completely” to take these vehicles off the road.

Fitzgerald added:

So it is very pleasing to see that more than 38,000 vehicles have been seized by the Gardaí since we began using this system and over 51,000 charges and summonses have been issued during that same period.

He added that MIBI is happy to see the database now includes more than 4.5 million validated driver numbers, with that number to grow even further over the coming months.

‘Thousands’ of fleet vehicles missing from database

However, MIBI sounded concern at a subsection within the database covering vehicle fleets.

These cover insurance policies for multiple vehicles under a single insurance policy and are typically used by businesses, motor traders, and organisations using several vehicles.

By the end of 2025, a total of 384,247 individual vehicles have been added to the National Fleet Database (NFD).

Since November 2023, fleet owners and motor traders have been required by law to ensure all the vehicles covered by insurance policies of this type were uploaded to the NFD.

Those who do not comply risk prosecution and fines of up to €500 per vehicle.

But MIBI estimates that there are “thousands” of fleet vehicles still missing from the NFD and whose owners are breaking the law.

“We believe there are still a significant number of individuals that are yet to fulfil their obligations to add their vehicles to the National Fleet Database section of IMID, and who, as a result are breaking the law,” Fitzgerald said.

“We hope to work with An Garda Síochána and other IMID stakeholders this year to target that group and to remind all offenders that if you do not meet your legal motor insurance obligations you face the real risk of being prosecuted, a process that IMID has made easier than ever for the gardaí,” Fitzgerald concluded.